Soul Trapper, a different type of iPhone game

A mix between a radio drama and text adventure, Soul Trapper bills itself as new type of game. Think of it as aZork that’s done entirely on audio, said designer David Warhol, president of Realtime Associates.

In this iPhone-iPod Touch game, players take on the role of Kane Pryce, a paranormal investigator. His father gives him a device called a Soul Trap that lets him communicate with ghosts and banish them, and with it, he works on cases around Los Angeles.

As far as gameplay goes, there isn’t much in terms of graphics. When you play, the screen shows the chapter wallpaper and maybe a few icons.

But graphics aren’t part of this game, it’s all about the audio and how Realtime Associates uses it to craft a compelling world. It reminds me of a game for the crowd who listens to novels on tape or This American Life.

In Soul Trapper, the gameplay comes from visualizing the world in your head and make decisions that impact the outcome. Most of the challenges come in puzzles where players will have to listen closely to the audio and figure out which direction a suspect has run.

In another puzzle, players will have to find a matching crystal by listening to the tones of a couple in a box. It’s a different type of gameplay and one that isn’t for everyone. I’m not sure the hard-core crowd would dig this though at times it reminds me a lot of Capcom’s Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

There’s a lot of character interaction and branching dialogue. The script written by F.J. Lennon sounds decent from what I played. It’s not going to win any writing awards, but Soul Trapper does engage the listener and creating an interesting universe.

With more than three hours of gameplay, Soul Trapper may be good for a long flight. At the least, it’s a new type of game on a relatively new platform.